Current state of the art computerized CAD/CAM systems enable an artist to scan existing original drawing with a scanning unit, then edit this original drawing with a computer displaying the scanned original drawing onto a computer video monitor, and then to print the edited drawing onto a variety of substrates including paper sheets, vinyl panels, plywoods, foamboards, plexiglass, metals and the like. More particularly, the artist is able to operate the computer keyboard to negotiate with a user friendly menu-driven application software, to edit the drawing. Such application software includes advanced editing features, such as zoom and pan, auto-kerned fonts with line, arc true spline curve and other functions, copy and move with animated graphics, animated spin-rotation for text and/or graphics, symmetrical image reproduction across any imaging line, 3-D perspectives with user-specified vanishing points and viewing angles. Moreover, these application softwares may provide graphic operations color selection, whereby the computer system will automatically output the print-out with the color selected by the artist from the various color layouts appearing on the computer video monitor. See for example the computerized, combined hardware and software unit called Ana Design Station (a trademark), manufactured by Anagraph, inc. of Costa Mesa, Calif.
For printing these drawings, so-called screen printing and curing systems are used. The usual printing system will be the silk screen process: namely, a technique of printing in which a sheet of silk, stretched tightly over a frame, is painted with a resist or is partially covered with a waxy stencil to block out areas of a design, so that when the screen is lowered onto the paper or textile to be printed, ink may be forced by squeegee through the unobstructed areas. The ink curing system is radiation-borne, either in the Ultra-Violet, visible, or Infra-Red electromagnetic radiation spectrum range, so that the radiation-sensitive ink will fuse with the underlying substrate as it is radiation-cured.
Most of the blind slats commercially sold in America are made from a cheap plastic material known as PVC, i.e. PolyVinyl Chloride. It is of course aesthetically desirable to match the colour of these PVC blind slats with those of the floor covering, wall paint and furnitures in the room where the blind is to be applied against a corresponding window. Most of the PVC blind slats are therefore colored accordingly.
Usually, the blind slat color will be uniform, i.e., all white, or yellow, or another color. PVC slats may be colored in such a way as to provide a special, visually-appealing pattern. Unfortunately, because the commercially available PVC slats are conventionally coated with a silicone compound (as an anti-static measure), such printed image patterns on the slats will be easily scratched and will accordingly lose their visual appeal.
More particularly, current methods for ink-printing venetian blinds or vertical blinds, which consist of slats (generally rectangular, thin panels), are as follows:
(a) by the paper transfer technique
In this technique, a heat-sensitive film melts and fuses with the blind. Such film usually contains silicone, as an anti-static agent. Because of the presence of silicone, the film will eventually wither under scratching action.
(b) by the hair-brush technique
The technique of simply painting the slat directly with a paint brush, directly by the artist. A major drawback of such a technique is the fact that, again, it will mar easily.
(c) by the groover technique
In this technique, fabric or paper sheets are inserted into the grooves of the blade, to provide a room matching color different from that of the slat itself (since the slat is thus concealed by the fabric or paper sheet, the color of the slat does not matter).